


Angel Face

by Airelle



Category: The Professionals
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-14
Updated: 2012-01-14
Packaged: 2017-10-29 12:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/319931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Airelle/pseuds/Airelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an undercover op, Doyle wants to get rid of his beard…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Angel Face

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Français available: [Un Visage d'Ange](https://archiveofourown.org/works/327001) by [Airelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Airelle/pseuds/Airelle)



> First published in "Blind Run 2", 1994  
> Also archived at The Hatstand and on Proslib CD  
> This story has been inspired by LADDER OF SWORDS, a British television movie starring Martin Shaw.  
> [](http://s1018.photobucket.com/albums/af310/Ammonet_one/Fandom/?action=view&current=Scan0001.jpg)

Bodie had never before seen Doyle with a full beard. He'd almost failed to recognize Ray when his partner finally came back. Doyle had been away for nearly two months. Cowley had needed one of his agents to infiltrate a drug ring. Doyle, having worked in the vice squad, was more prepared to such an undercover assignment. He knew the addicts and the dealers, and thus had been able to work his way into the drug ring, right up to the brains of this particular operation.

As a measure of further protection, Doyle had been ordered to let his beard grow. Although their job was not precisely a public one, there was always a chance they could have been spotted by the wrong people during some official baby-sitting work. Even if it was a remote chance, Cowley did not believe in unnecessary risks.

Bodie had fretted the whole time, more than a little worried for his friend's safety. He'd not been very happy about it, remembering too well the near-disaster that the Van Neikerk operation had turned into. He'd been like a bear with a sore paw, Jax had said. Bodie had been temporarily teamed with him during the op. They had been in charge of digging out all they could from their end of things. They'd also been in charge of monitoring the rare reports Doyle could make.

There had been a dreadful week during which Ray had missed two successive contact times. Bodie had gone frantic, wanting to butt in at once. Cowley had reminded him that Doyle had warned he might not be able to keep all the appointments, depending on the turn of events. Bodie had reluctantly agreed to wait, provided that they went into action if Ray missed a third contact. Thankfully, he'd been on the R/T at the appointed time. His partner almost fainted with relief, although he managed to hide this particular reaction from Jax - or so he thought.

As the black agent had noticed, Bodie without Doyle was not very good company. He was withdrawn, moody and irritable - not at all the Bodie they all knew and loved, he'd pointed to Colby, a new recruit wondering at Bodie's abruptness with Jax, and at the reason why Jax was letting him get away with it. Colby had thought it had something to do with racial prejudice, but Jax had disabused him of the notion. Bodie without Doyle - or Doyle without Bodie for that matter - was worse than a rainy day, and more difficult to cure!

Now, even if Bodie would not have admitted as much, he was deliriously happy to have Doyle back, safe and sound.

"Let's go to your place, eh, Bodie? My flat's probably cold and the cupboard is empty. I'll buy us some Chinese takeaway, you still like it, don't you?" Doyle said, at his most charming. When Doyle used this kind of rough charm, Bodie usually complied. He did so now, knowing that he'd be the one to pay for the takeaway -  as a rule, Doyle was much too tight-fisted to spend money this way.

_Being bearded really suits him,_ Bodie thought, _even if it somewhat hides the sensuous contours of his mouth - a pity!_ Troubled by these unusual thoughts, Bodie hid his embarrassment behind a joke. "Well, mate, I haven't changed that much in two months! But you look scruffier than ever with all this extra hair on your ugly mug!"

Doyle's only answer was a good-natured smirk.

Having shed a few notes, and gained some parcels, Bodie, with Doyle in tow, arrived at his flat. Bodie wondered from time to time why he was always the one saddled with the suitcases, the grocery... But most of the time, he simply carried them without thinking twice about it.

Bodie's hands being full, Doyle went for the keys in Bodie's trousers pocket. The tickling fingers did all sorts of things to that young man, making him wonder if the fingers _really_ lingered more than necessary, or if he was imagining it all. Doyle made a production of fishing the keys out of the tight-fitting cream cords. It was Bodie's turn to smirk.

Once inside, Doyle made himself at home and concentrated on enjoying his evening with his partner, his first real relaxation since the beginning of the operation.

They ate slowly, leisurely, thoroughly enjoying the good, filling meal, and the wine. It was one of their favorite, a flavory red Burgundy. Bodie, the well-travelled one, had introduced Ray to French wines at the beginning of their acquaintance, and had found his mate appreciated good wine when he was showed some.

They made small talk, Ray needing the undemanding company as much as Bodie needed to reassert their friendship after the lengthy separation. Chalk and cheese, Cowley called them; or the Bisto Boys. _More like Siamese twins_ , Bodie thought, _living in each other's pockets, and all that. But God, am I happy to have him back!_

  
Then, as they were savoring a last glass of Glenfiddich, Doyle suddenly told Bodie that he was fed up with his beard, and would have liked to shave it off. But he did not have his shaver with him. He would be forced to wait until morning to do it.  

Bodie had kept some strange habits from his mercenary days. He still shaved with a straight razor. He offered Doyle to lend him his instrument, but Doyle confessed he did not know how to use it. He had no intention to look like something out of a horror movie, just to get rid of his beard a few hours earlier.

Bodie said he could do it, if Doyle wanted. He promised he wouldn't cut him, and Doyle accepted the offer. He was sick and tired of the beard he'd had to wear for more than two months, as it was greying much faster than his hair, and made him look older.

Delicately, Bodie soaped his friend's face. He had never seen so closely Ray's exceptionally green, almond-shaped eyes. With a shyness unusual in such an arrogant man, Bodie broke the eye contact and took up the razor. He concentrated on scraping off the soap and the beard from Doyle's upturned face. The recipient of his attention had closed his eyes and was visibly basking in the gentle care.

Soon, the familiar features were revealed one by one: the high cheekbones, the right one with its peculiar deformation, which lent earthiness to a face which would have been almost too ethereal without it; then the perfect mouth, so achingly beautiful that Bodie felt his heart skip a beat; last, the long, wiry throat, thrown back in a gesture steeped in unconscious sensuality. Deeply troubled, the ex-mercenary fumbled for the prepared towel and slowly wiped the naked face. He whispered in a low, husky voice, "See... Not a scratch...", barely caressing the peach-like skin with the pad of his fingers.

Doyle opened his eyes, and plunged directly into his friend's bewitching, midnight blue gaze. For a timeless moment, they stared at each other, Bodie's hand poised on Doyle so-soft cheek. Dreamily, Bodie lifted his other hand, and cupped the upturned, vulnerable, luminous face...

Then Bodie's hands slid lower, to Ray's neck, then his shoulders, his gaze never wavering from his friend's. Bodie slowly bent closer to Ray. Then he felt the flat of Ray's hand on his chest, touching him almost shyly, burning him through the layers of clothes he was wearing. He completed his gesture, and his lips came to rest on Ray's slightly parted ones. Tentatively, as if to reassure a little animal, Bodie moved his lips. The soft, lush mouth opened at once as if the kiss was the most natural occurrence in the whole world. And, Bodie understood in a blinding moment of bliss, it was. What could be more natural than love?

In years to come, their love would grow deeper, better. They would discover the most delicious sensual delights, the most sophisticated ones. They would laugh, cry, dream and hope. They would find a sense of togetherness they'd never have thought possible.

But they would never forget their first kiss, and the overwhelming emotion out of which it was born. And Bodie would keep all his life, preciously stashed away, the razor which had given him his last, best love.


End file.
